NBA: Noah Lyles Fires Back at Kevin Durant, Drake, Others Over 'World Champion' Hate

(Photo : ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images) USA's Noah Lyles celebrates his three gold medals after anchoring the USA team to victory in the men's 4x100m relay final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest.

Olympian Noah Lyles drew much attention last month for his controversial swipe at the NBA.

His remarks got the attention of NBA stars Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, as well as American rapper Drake. According to Lyles, he was unaware he was being blasted on social media until his friends informed him.

Noah Lyles had no idea his statement "World Champion of what??" was going V-I-R-A-L until he had #KevinDurant and #Drake talking on the subject🤯

"They, the U.S. actually heard something." - @LylesNoah
#NoahLyles episode live on youtube-> https://t.co/Q5ssJLGrKk pic.twitter.com/NZA8TZO7O5
— I AM ATHLETE (@IAMATHLETEpod) September 14, 2023

"So I put on my phone and see just a few basketball players like whatever, and then I see KD's talking, and then you got a few others, Drake, Drake chimed in. But at the same time, it's like wow, they actually heard something," Lyles said when he appeared on the I AM AN ATHLETE Podcast with Brandon Marshall on Wednesday, September 13.

Regardless, Lyles hardly changed his stance on the so-called "World Champion" debate. It is also timely considering Team USA finished without a medal at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup held in the Philippines, USA Today reported.

"Not to say that we're not the greatest at it and we have some amazing and the best ever in that sport, it's just you can't call yourself World Champions if you don't face the rest of the world," the Florida native added.

The controversy continues to overshadow Noah Lyles' three gold medal triumph at the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest last month.

Paul George' partly agrees' with Noah Lyles

It comes not long after NBA All-Star Paul George agreed with Lyles to a certain extent when he spoke on his Podcast P podcast, the Bleacher Report reported.

"I think he's right, technically," the Los Angeles Clippers star stated but quickly added that NBA players have earned the right to be called world champions.

"We're still world champions," George added. "We're beating the best of the best to be rightfully called world champions."